Results 7,121-7,140 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is a specific helpline with which the Deputy can get in touch. If there is a particular problem, the Deputy can always contact me and I will do my best to get past whatever bottleneck he or other Deputies are experiencing.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There will be times, throughout all of our response to the situation, when problems will arise. Working co-operatively, I believe we can surmount them.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am not trying to be trite in any way and I hear what the Deputy is saying but we are in a European war right now. This is not normality in any context. We are responding to a European war that, as one Deputy said, we did not expect to be dealing with last year. We did not expect to dealing with this on 14 February this year. Our response has had to be an emergency response. It is the...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is close co-ordination between my Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the City and County Management Association, CCMA, which acts as a collective voice for the 31 local authorities. Those three bodies are now meeting regularly on the short-term accommodation work that is going on in my Department. Our engagement with local authorities on that is...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will take that point on the importance of communication on board and reflect on it. It is important. There are lots of Departments and State agencies all acting and we recall from Covid that it can be hard to bring everything together in a digestible format. There are Ukrainians in every constituency around the country but the concentrations of displaced persons are higher in certain...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Senator is absolutely right in terms of the fantastic support that local authorities have given my Department, and their parent Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in responding to this. That work has put pressure on them, which is why I welcome the moves taken by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, to designate a new director of services for...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for her recognition of the work done by the staff across my Department. The point she made in terms of this story moving farther from the front page links in with the point Deputy Cairns made on other conflicts never even making the front page in the first place. The longer conflicts go on or the farther away they are geographically from us, the less prominent they...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The best thing to do is to move these children across the borders with neighbouring countries and to provide supports there. With regard to intellectual disability, I am again getting advice from those who know best. If we can support measures in that area in any way, we will. Where people arrive in Ireland who have a disability, whether physical, intellectual or sensory, there is an...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will come in on those matters quickly. It is a really important question and I thank the Deputy for putting it on the record. Up to this point, 80 unaccompanied minors from Ukraine have been notified to Tusla. Tusla has a presence at Dublin Airport and engages where unaccompanied minors are identified. Of those 80, 35 have subsequently been reunited. Some 55 have been taken into either...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. On the issue of childcare, Ukrainian children are entitled to access the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, which provides two years of free preschool. Obviously, the number of places available in that scheme varies in different parts of the country. In areas where there is pressure on ECCE services, we work with the city and country childcare...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: That is a lovely illustration of the extent to which communities across the country are coming together to support Ukrainians. I asked an official about the employment accessibility of the early years sector after the Chairman raised the matter in the Dáil. I received a detailed answer that I forgot to send to her. I apologise for that and will sent it to her today. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Adoption Services (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the subject matter of the Deputy's question relates to an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, I have referred the matter to them for a direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children in Care (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that it commissioned a scoping exercise to be carried out in relation to possibilities for improved support and services for parents of children in care. Tusla recognises that while there are some localised examples of very good practice in this regard, there has not been a uniform approach applied throughout the country to date. At the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Wards of Court (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As this is an operational matter, the question has been referred to Tusla for direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Wards of Court (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Justice, as the court services are under her remit.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Wards of Court (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Justice, as the court services are under her remit.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Wards of Court (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Justice, as the court services are under her remit.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (11 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The key conditions of the Core Funding contract were outlined in the report of the Expert Group, Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare. This was launched on 7th December 2021 and states that providers who sign up to Core Funding should be required to: - Follow the fee management system - in 2022/23 this will be a requirement...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (11 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Ensuring improved quality, affordability and sustainability of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare (ELC and SAC) services is a key priority for Government. My Department has undertaken detailed analysis of providers' operating costs and has in-depth understanding of the cost breakdown and cost drivers of ELC and SAC delivery. As part of Budget 2022, I was pleased to announce...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (11 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: To reply to the Deputy's question my Department requested information from Tusla. They have informed us of the following: Tusla does not have any policy which indicates if ‘instructions’ are to be provided in writing, or verbally, to Foster Carers. It is Tusla's intention that Foster Carers are as considered key partners in care planning and decision-making, for the children and...